Dawne Nickerson-Bañez and her husband Tom Bañez took over Frankfurt Bakery on South Governors Avenue on July 1. In the months since, the couple has continued to serve the fresh baked breads, delicious sweets and custom sandwiches that defined the bakery, while adding a few new items such as cupcakes.

THE EXPANSION

Just five weeks after the Bañez couple took over Frankfurt Bakery, Sean Mace, vice president of Eden Hill Medical Center, extended an offer to the couple to open a second location inside the medical facility, where Brownstone Café was previously located. The past few weeks have been spent revamping the space. Eden Hill arranged to have the space cleaned and repainted, while Nickerson-Bañez had it stocked with brand new equipment. This was an opportunity Nickerson-Bañez couldn't pass up.

"In thinking about it, if it's done the right way it's really a no-brainer," she said. "I mean, it's a great opportunity."

One of the aspects that makes the new endeavor perfect is that Frankfurt has a monopoly on food service in the medical center. Frankfurt is the only food service provider in the building for staff and patients, and any group that wants to have an event catered in Eden Hill's conference room has to go through Frankfurt.

The new Frankfurt location opened on Monday. The shop will be offering Danishes, muffins, croissants and coffee for early-morning customers, as well as a selection of cookies and cupcakes throughout the day. For the lunch crowd, the new location will continue the tradition of custom-built sandwiches. Diners select their bread, deli meats and toppings and they're all served on Frankfurt's fresh baked bread. The pastries, cupcakes and breads are baked fresh and brought over from the Governors Avenue location every morning.

"We kept it very much the same as we do at the bakery," Nickerson-Bañez said. "We do simple, good sandwiches and simple, good pastries."

Staff inside the building can also fax their orders in so that they're ready to be picked up by the time they make it downstairs.

"Customers won't see a whole lot of difference between the way we do things on Governors Avenue and the way we do things here," she said. "If you go get a turkey sandwich there it's going to look the same as the turkey sandwich you get here."